Related Pages in this Manual
- Green Living Program: Finding a Home &
Creating and Maintaining the Right Vibe
Mentoring and Managing
It is important for interns to be mentored rather than just managed. Mentoring allows interns to develop their professional capacities. It can help them assess their interest in the field of sustainability and develop skills that are valuable in any profession. Mentors can develop a rapport with each intern that ensures mutual trust and commitment but does not undermine the sense of accountability that the intern should have for his or her work.
In order for the mentorship to be successful, the program manager should spend one out of every eight of the intern's hours working directly with him or her. Mentoring time is spent listening and talking about the student's learning experience. Time is also spent exploring how the student is "making meaning" from their broader life experience and how their internship might be useful to them in general ways.
One important role for a mentor is to assist the student in rapidly coming to terms with the cultural, structural and political landscape of the school or department in which the internship is based. This can sometimes be the hardest knowledge for a student to gather alone; hence, it is important that the mentor share this with the intern to enable him or her to develop strategies for skillfully engaging the sponsoring department. This will enhance the effectiveness of the project and allow the intern to develop negotiation skills in a professional setting.
Ideally, the manager will share stories of his or her own learning experiences and the relationship will evolve with mutual understanding and respect. Other pages in this section include the following: